DuPage County Holds Design Challenge

DARIEN, IL - Students from several DuPage County high schools displayed their green building projects to the public at the 11th annual Sustainable Design Challenge on April 4, held at DuPage County’s Administration Building in Wheaton.

According to the county, the challenge is sponsored by DuPage County Stormwater Management. SCARCE coordinates the event each year to encourage local schools to explore sustainable building and landscaping topics with students.

Participating high schools included Wheaton Warrenville South, York Community in Elmhurst, Glenbard East in Lombard, Lake Park in Roselle and Hinsdale South in Darien.

“We look forward to the Sustainable Design Challenge every year at the County,” said County Board Chairman Dan Cronin in a release. “It’s a breath of fresh air to see the building filled with students who have turned their ideas into innovative and advanced building designs. I continue to be impressed year after year.”

The county said nearly 30 student groups presented models of their designs to a panel of judges, as well as the public, County Board members, local professionals and county and municipal staff. Students explained the design elements that made their building sustainable, including renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines, water conservation elements using native plant landscaping and rain barrels and green infrastructure for stormwater management. The DuPage County Board will award the top designs at the May 9 meeting.

For more information about the Sustainable Design Challenge and past projects, visit https://www.scarce.org/event/sustainable-design-challenge2017/.

Photo provided by DuPage County.